Vivian Woodell is the Founder of The Phone Co-op, a consumer co-operative and the only telecoms provider in the UK that is owned and run by its customers.
The Phone Co-op is a Living Wage employer, a founding pioneer of the Fair Tax Mark and re-invests a share of profits in other co-operatives, including many community-owned renewable energy projects. It has also helped the first student housing co-op in the UK get started.
Vivian recently stepped down as the Phone Co-op’s Chief Executive after 19 years in order to lead the development of a new initiative, The Phone Co-op Foundation for Co-operative Innovation, which aims to drive the development of a more vibrant co-operative economy.
Vivian is an elected board member of The Midcounties Co-operative, a £1 billion consumer co-op that has pioneered the move of the Co-op Movement into new sectors such as energy and childcare, and a director of Co-operatives UK, the national umbrella body for co-operatives.